Roses for the Queen
by NekoNekoMinako
Summary: He'd been destined for the role since birth, though that had been beyond all knowledge. Unfortunately for them, when this Queen takes the throne, it won't be red nor white he desires...but black.
1. Chapter 1

With writer's block on Redemption of a Weapon, I'm gonna take a break and write this story. Hopefully, you guys'll like it. So, without anymore chit-chat, here's the first chapter!

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Disclaimer: Only thing not owned in this fanfic is the Storm Hawks world and everything within.

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First Masquerade: Of Dreams and Black Roses

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Nervousness ran through him as he sat in the empty ballroom, glancing at the dimly lit portraits that seem to cast disapproving glares upon him. He toyed with the lace at the end of one of his long sleeves, then fussed with the black rose behind his ear, wondering if the one he waited for would truly appear.

Suddenly, the young man felt horribly inadequate. Compared to this man, who seemed to be the shadows themselves, and as lithe as a panther, who was he? A pale, skinny teen, that's what. Yet, his nightly visitor seemed not to care.

Now playing anxiously with the edge of his shirt, he glanced over longingly at the grandfather clock.

It read 11:55.

Soon it would be midnight, and soon he would appear.

The young teen gave himself a once over, yet again, to make sure he was presentable, before rising to walk over to the door. With a soft, "click," it locked.

His breath hitched when he felt a hand on his shoulder, the other finding its way to rest on his stomach.

A light kiss upon his cheek followed by one on his neck was all the greeting he needed to know that it was _him_. He nearly lost his breath when he was spun around in his visitor's arms all of a sudden, but found it all worth it when he was brought into the warmth of the other's strong embrace.

Whispered words came forth, a nod from the teen the needed reply. Looking up, the teen was slightly saddened to see that, as always, the top half of the man's face was covered by a mask. He was about to say something, when a gloved finger came up to his lips to silence him.

The smile upon the man's lips told the boy that he knew what he wanted, he just couldn't give it to him just yet.

Smiling sadly, the teen nodded. The man removed his finger from the other's lips only to take one of his hands up and gently lead him further into the ballroom. A snap of his fingers, and music began to play from somewhere.

Hours passed as the two danced, the mood between the two lighter than before. A cheerful expression had graced the younger's features and seemingly refused to leave, and even a few cheerful laughs had surfaced. The elder had a small smile on his own face.

He leaned down to whisper something into the younger's ear...

--

Aerrow woke up with a start. It was always right there that he woke up, when that man whispered those words into his ear.

_Wait for me, my Queen, for I shall come for you._

The voice was hauntingly familiar, yet he couldn't place it while awake. Not that he'd want to, with such a disturbing dream being where the person was from.

_Is it really so disturbing?_ the annoying little voice of reason in his head decided to chime in his head. _In all honesty, you really seemed to enjoy it._

True, his dream self seemed to, but would he? In reality, he could never see himself wearing anything so...lacy...as that shirt. Nor had he danced like that in years - last time was for the Sky Knight Academy graduation ball.

_Ah, but that's your DREAM self. What about your REAL self?_ his voice of reason asked.

Sighing, he hopped out of his bed, his aim to go over to the window to open it and let some air in, hoping to clear his thoughts a bit, only to freeze in near horror at what he found.

Wedged between the glass and the frame...was a single black rose...

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Thoughts? Send 'em to me, cause you know I love 'em!


	2. Chapter 2

Yay! Second part of the story! Hope you all enjoy!

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Disclaimer: Same as last chapter, folks.

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Second Masquerade: Dilemmas and Machinations

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Aerrow spoke nothing of his dream, like usual, and spoke nothing of his discovery of the rose to the others. To him, such things were best left unsaid until he could find the cause of it all. Besides, it provided no distraction to him during missions, so there was no cause for alarm, he rationalized.

_What if you come across that man from your dreams during a mission, though?_ the ever annoying voice of reason queried. He mentally cursed the thing into oblivion for that one.

Currently, they were heading to Terra Rex, to a gathering of the squadrons to discuss the appearance of a new and never before seen terra, and also some rather interesting info regarding the war against Cyclonia. Most of this was news to the Storm Hawks; of course, they were often left out of the loop on most things.

Aerrow sighed softly, emerald eyes slipping halfway shut. He had a feeling that something was very wrong, and that nothing was going to be the same ever again...

--

Surprisingly, the trip to Rex was rather uneventful. Finn had, like always, managed to do something to get on everybody's nerves, and was just finishing up cleaning the hangar as they landed the Condor.

That feeling of anxiety had grown just a bit as they reached the terra. Something was amiss...he just couldn't place it...

"Aerrow, are you alright?" Piper asked softly, noticing the slight tenseness in her captain and friend's composure.

The red-haired teen didn't hear her the first time apparently, so she asked again, this time shaking him slightly.

"Huh? Oh...yes, I'm alright..."

She didn't buy it, but didn't push it any further, even as they left their ship to join the rest of the squadrons...

--

After confirming that all the squadrons were present, Harrier began the meeting.

"We'll start with the recent info from our spies in Cyclonia." he said. "From what we've gathered over the past few months, the Dark Ace has not been seen at all."

Murmurs rose from the crowd at this, mostly because the Dark Ace was Cyclonis' prized warrior? Would she truly have gotten rid of him so easily? And wasn't he loyal only to her? Would he disappear like this if he was?

"I think we can vouch." Aerrow said. "Cyclonis is usually sending him after us like you would a hound after a fox, but we haven't seen him at all recently."

"That's the thing, though." the blond sky knight stated gravely. "From what our spies have said, even Cyclonia is confused as to what happened. He was there one moment, doing missions and acting as he always had, and the next he had just vanished."

Now THAT raised a few eyebrows.

"What's caught our attention in this matter is the similarity to a few cases within our own borders. Not with sky knights, but with normal civilians."

On the crystal-powered projection screen behind him came up a few pictures. "These are some recent cases of missing people that disappeared in a manner similar to that told of the Dark Ace. We're not going to claim a connection just yet, but there may just be one."

Aerrow half-heard what the elder sky knight said; he was more intent on the amount of pictures that had appeared on the screen. Twelve people had gone missing? That would mean the Dark Ace's disappearance made number thirteen! Had nothing been done about this?!

"Of course, what has gotten most of our attention at the time is this."

The faces vanished, only to be replaced by the picture of what appeared to be...a castle? A dense forest? It was hard to make out.

"Meet the most recent terra to be found. The Thunder Eagles," he paused to nod his head at them, "discovered it while on patrol near the Eastern Quadrant. I will let Rhiannon take it from here."

He resumed his seat as the young Wildcat took the stand. She hissed out a quick "It's Rhia" at him before beginning.

"As Harrier already said, it's locale is near the Eastern Quadrant. I apologize for the blurriness of the picture, but surprisingly, this was the best we could do."

"Inconceivable!" somebody in the crowd yelled. "Your ship has some of the best recon equipment in Atmos!!"

"So we thought, until we came across that." Rhia said with a sigh. "The terra is, upon first glance, like every other terra - surrounded by natural air space. However, when we tried to approach it for a better shot...we encountered some sort of energy field that began to destroy the exterior of the Firebolt."

Silence. You could've cut it with a knife.

"Kihara even tried to counteract it, but was unsuccessful. We had no choice but to get a quick snap from where we were and get out of there before we were fried.

"Luckily, Nicolas was able to get a good enough look at it to do a few sketches of it to bring. Not as good as actual photos, I'm afraid, but you'll get the idea of what we saw."

The blurry photo was replaced by said sketches. Chills were sent down the spines of the viewers. A large, Gothic-style palace, dark in its facade, surrounded by gardens of roses.

The sketches told them everything they needed to know - this was a place that great caution was needed with.

"Allow me to fill you in on what Nicolas' sketches, albeit very detailed, cannot show." the young sky knight before them stated. "True to the picture before you, the palace is, indeed, nearly black in color. The roses are various shades of purple, red, blue, and black. All those shades fall under the darker elements of the color spectrum, though. This is just one side of the terra, however. Had we not had to flee, we could have gotten more details to share with you."

"You saw no evidence of activity other than the palace and the barrier?" Starling asked.

"None. All that I have said is all that we have." Rhia replied.

Harrier stood to resume his previous position as Rhia went back to sit with her squadron, a slightly grim expression on his face.

"I think we can all agree that getting through that barrier to explore that terra may be our first priority at the moment?" he questioned. Murmurs of acquiesence rose from people in the crowd. "Rhia," he stressed this, and saw that Rhia gave him a nod of thanks, "and her squadron have left the damage on their cruiser for us to analyze. The data found through this could help us find a way through that barrier surrounding the terra."

With that, the meeting adjourned for the day...

--

Aerrow sighed as he lay in his bed later that night, lightly fingering the delicate black rose as he thought over the day's events.

The light that was usually in his eyes seemed to have faded away slightly.

_Thirteen people, huh?_ his little inner voice mused. _Twelve Atmosians and Dark Ace...quite the combination...wonder what's going on..._

He silently agreed with that voice of his, also wondering just what - if anything at all - had been done to find the twelve from their lands.

"It's all wrong..." he whispered, tracing a petal lightly with his index finger. "It's just not right...leaving them to fend for themselves while we go off to explore some intriguing terra...even the Dark Ace doesn't deserve that..."

_So what will you do?_ the voice asked softly, a slight snort of amusement in the words. _What CAN you do? It's not like you can just run off and do whatever! You're a sky knight! True, while you've sworn to protect Atmos' people, that oath basically says you have to do it within the Council's guidelines! You're bound like everyone else, whether you like it or not._

Another sigh passed his lips as faded emeralds shut completely, for he knew what was said to be true. Clutching the rose to his chest as he slowly fell to the land of dreams, he whispered into the night air, "I only want what is fair..."

--

Elsewhere, other plans were being made, plans some would say as dark as the shadows, yet some would say as light as air.

"Those fools won't know what hit them!!" one of the gathered figures exclaimed, her voice belaying her excitement, though her masked face showed not this expression.

"Patience, now, Righthand Queen's Bishop." said another woman, her face masked as well. "Too much excitement, and all our planning will have been for naught.

"I'm not so sure..." came another's voice as he leaned over to rest his arm on the second woman's shoulder. "Judging from the situation so far, I'd say no matter what we did, everything would go alright."

"Indeed." a fourth chimed in, boots clicking on the tiled floor as he walked over. "Of course, we can't have too many pawns in play. The game would be ruined if we did."

"Oh, come and lighten up, now, dear Lefthand King's Rook!" a boisterous and obviously female voice laughed. "A few extra pawns might come in handy!!"

This chatter continued amongst the masked for many minutes, light-hearted and quite confident, until...

"Enough."

The commanding tone of this voice quietened all of them. Each and every single person turned and kneeled before the man as he stepped into the room.

"Your majesty." they all murmured as he walked towards the throne...at least, one of them. He stopped and stood before them. The others stood up and awaited his words. He turned, the black cloak he wore swishing elegantly around him like a shadow.

"King's Retinue," he looked to the left, "Queen's Retinue," he looked to the right, "it is now time for us to make ourselves known to these...imbeciles...who feel the need to try to conquer all they see, as well as each other."

A cheer rose up amongst them before he silenced them with a slight wave of his hand.

"While it is time for this, it is also..."

He paused to adjust the mask covering the top half of his face. He pulled forth a single black rose from the recessess of his cloak.

"It is also time to bring our Queen to the throne."

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Review please!! Oh, one final note - thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter!!


	3. Chapter 3

Yay! Third chapter! We're moving along, folks! Let's get on with the chapter!

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Disclaimer: We've introduced a couple of characters now...those might possibly be mine. I won't say yet. However, I still don't own, and probably won't ever, own Storm Hawks.

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Third Masquerade: Rose-Scented Seduction

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Everyone was in a frantic state of mind at the moment. One minute, they were getting ready to study the damage on the Thunder Eagles' precious Firebolt, the next...a blood-curdling scream split the air, from the direction of the Condor.

Starling and Harrier were the first on the scene, and were quite shocked themselves at what they found. Piper was apparently the one who had screamed, for she was stiff with fright, orange eyes widened and pupils dilated to nothing but dots. Finn, however, was the focus of their attention.

Finn was trying to awaken a pale, listless Aerrow, shaking him and frantically calling his name.

There was nothing around that could have caused this - nothing in his hands, nor on his pillow or beside his head - yet, his eyes refused to open, and he made no sound except the soft ones his breathing made.

As squadron after squadron, sky knight after sky knight, made their way to see what was wrong, a masked figure off in the trees watched the scene unfold, twirling an innocent looking black rose in their fingers.

"What better way to cause mischief than with this?" the person said, making their gender known to be female. "Of course, what my King says, I shall follow without hesitation, and his goal is mine..."

--

"One of our own has fallen victim to some unknown poison, from what we've managed to discover." Harrier seethed out, still enraged that this happened on his own turf.

"It's plant based, and of the rose family. Other than that, we've more to learn." Kihara, who was leading the research team, continued. "I also detected some form of magic within the mix, as well. I'm still working on identifying it, but this, unfortunately, takes time...time I'm not sure we have."

All were silent at the young Glyphian mage's words. Young Aerrow could be dying, and there was barely any information on what was causing it, much less what could stop it.

--

Aerrow groaned as he woke slowly, emerald eyes glassy and dazed. He turned his head, only to catch sight, albeit blurrily, of a figure he'd never seen in his room before...let alone in his life.

Instinct kicked in within moments, and he was awake and alert, ready to face the intruder.

"Peace...my Queen." the person said softly, head bowed. Aerrow tensed slightly, but stayed where he was.

"What do you want?" he asked warily, eyes narrowed.

"I am the Righthand Knight of the King's Retinue." the young woman introduced, bowing low. The shadows hid most of her body; however, she made sure he saw her mask - stark white, with slight almond-shaped slits where her eyes would be. A black silhouette of a knight chess piece was on the forehead area, and a long, thin, black line trailed from beneath the right "eye," bisected halfway by another, shorter one. Her violet bangs framed it, much like it would her normal face.

"That's nice, but why are you here?" he asked again, a bit unnerved by the mask.

"What my King bids me do, I shall do without hesitation." she replied easily. "And he has told me to come before you while the others were away."

Aerrow knew who she meant by "the others." She meant all the other squadrons, including his own.

"So, how'd you manage that little feat?"

"Simple. Taint a black rose with my special sleeping powder, and all shall play into my hands."

The teenaged sky knight felt rage boiling in him now, but suddenly felt himself feeling drowsy again.

"I control when the person who inhales the powder falls asleep, and when they shall wake up. Only I have the antidote, and only I can create both this and the antidote."

"But...why the black rose?"

"Let's just say...it was my King's idea. However, time is of the essence, and idle chit-chat spends precious seconds."

Aerrow nodded - he knew much of that concept.

"Tonight is a momentous night for you, my Queen, and my King wishes you to be properly attired." She motioned towards a small box near his feet that he hadn't noticed until just then. "He hopes you will find these to your liking."

The red-haired youth nodded lightly, although nervously - she was calling him "my Queen," after all...

Moments later, Aerrow found himself wearing what he'd seen himself wear in the dreams, complete with the black rose behind his ear. It wasn't quite as bad as he'd expected it to be. There was one difference, though, from this ensemble and the one from the dreams - a hooded black cloak that nearly encompassed his entire frame.

"Let us go." the woman said softly. Aerrow nodded shakily, pulling up the hood and concealing his face. With this, they slipped through the window - open already, and the red-head figured this was how she managed to get in, too - and headed out into the more remote areas of Terra Rex...

--

"I don't believe it...So easy to succeed..." a masked man sulked from his perch atop a nearby cliff. "Perhaps...he was already on his way down our path to begin with...Yet, if this was the case, then why go through all these toils? Why tempt him with the delicate rose only to poison him with its nectar?"

The man sighed softly, placing his chin in his palm. "Shall we hope that all makes sense before the lights go down? Or do we pray that they call for his reign before the curtain truly rises?" he asked before disappearing in a swirl of mist.

--

Sorry it took so long to update - my computer decided to crash, so we've been spending time recovering files before wiping the hard drive, placing files back on, updating everything, and all that stuff. Anyway, I'll try to update a bit sooner next time around!


	4. Chapter 4

Fourth chapter! Let's scratch just a little off the surface of our mysterious group, shall we?

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Disclaimer: Same as always, though with a little extra: Illyanna belongs to me.

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Fourth Masquerade: Pieces in Play

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Aerrow had fallen asleep sometime along the way, no doubt due to the "poison" he'd been given earlier by his mysterious companion, as he hadn't even felt tired before suddenly blacking out. When he came to...

It was if he had awoken in his dream. He was sitting in the middle of a ballroom, and from what he could tell, midnight was near. Every detail from his dream was there - the old clock, the large and near - Gothic in style, and still staring in their disapproving way.

The clock suddenly started chiming twelve - loudly, at that, - and he stiffened slightly at the slight touch he felt on his neck.

"You seem more beautiful in person than you do in the dreams..." a velvety whisper came from behind, the same as in his dreams and sending shivers down his spine.

"You've...been dreaming about me, too?" Aerrow asked softly, eyes drooping closed as the two kisses - cheek, then neck - came. He felt safe with this man, but he still was unsure of who he was.

"Of course, my Queen." the man said, stepping quickly around to kneel in front of the younger. He took one of the other's smaller hands delicately within his own, pressing his lips lightly to the knuckles before snapping with the other hand.

Just like in the dreams, music began to play.

"Might I have this dance?" the elder asked, looking up into the youth's emeralds from behind the veil of his mask.

Aerrow smiled and nodded, following as he was lightly pulled to his feet. The dance was a slow one, matching the tempo of the disembodied music, yet it seemed to have an energy no dance Aerrow had ever participated in could ever dream to have.

"You're so light upon your feet..." the elder complimented after a few minutes.

"The dreams should have told you that." the red-haired youth replied, softly.

The elder chuckled softly. "So they have..." He smiled. "They've told me all about you."

"What?"

"Haven't you learned all about me yet, my Queen?" the other asked. "Have your dreams not told you all you need to know?"

Aerrow looked at him blankly for a moment. "All I've seen is the same thing - this ballroom, us dancing..."

The man sighed softly, seemingly disappointed. "As I suspected...The Queen's Mark wishes to protect it's bearer, even when it knows the path you will inevitably take..."

The youth backed up just a bit, his confusion evident in his face and eyes. That safe feeling had waned ever so slightly.

"Despite the role you have played thus far in life, you are still so innocent...There is something within you that wishes to protect that innocence from all it feels would destroy it...A voice, if you will..." the elder began.

The ruby-haired teen had to agree with this - the voice that had been telling him recently to analyze his dreams and that he was bound to the Council's rules...had been quietly whispering to him to get away from this man in front of him...to leave as quickly as he could, despite the safety and warmth around him.

"That is the Queen's Mark. It's duty is to defend the Queen until they take up the throne."

Aerrow felt something stir up within him...something he wasn't quite sure he liked.

"The King's Mark, however...is quite the opposite. Once it knows who bears the Queen's Mark, it will tell the one it marks all it can find..."

The elder was suddenly behind the young sky knight, pulling him close against his chest.

"Because we have such similar markings...I've learned so much about you, my Queen..."

Lips moved closer down to the younger's ear, the next words a mere breath.

"Even about the crown shaped birth-mark upon your left thigh..."

Aerrow felt both his breathing and heart freeze at those words. Nobody knew of that except him. His parents had taken that fact with them to the grave.

He pushed himself away from the elder with such speed it would've made a hummingbird jealous. "Who are you?!" he demanded, feeling more afraid than he was anything else.

"I was once innocent like you, my Queen...until I was forced to kill my friends." the elder said, removing his mask...

--

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN AERROW'S MISSING?!?!" Piper screeched, being held back by Finn and Junko as the search teams came back.

"Exactly that." Nicolas replied, wincing as his ears kept ringing.

"We've searched every area, and there's no trace of him anywhere..." Azure murmured, patting Rhia (in her large, Wildcat form)'s head softly. "Rhia couldn't even pick up a trail anywhere. Wherever he went, or whoever took him, there's no way to follow."

The panther-sized cat let out a huff, laying down and crossing her front paws. Rhia was taking this particularly hard - Aerrow'd been her friend since way before they'd joined the Academy, and was even accepted as an honorary Wildcat by her tribe because they were so close. She always said she'd be there to protect him if he needed her to, and the one time he did she wasn't there.

_Little Hawk..._ she thought sadly, the only thing conveying that sorrow outwardly a small whine, _who could've done this to you?_

--

Aerrow was frozen to his spot; barely any part of him moved. He felt like he couldn't breathe, like his heart couldn't beat. Emerald eyes were wide with both shock and fright.

For before him stood a man he knew far too well, a figure that haunted him with glittering rubies and hair the color of night.

None other than the Dark Ace stood before him now, revealed to be the masked man from his dreams.

"W-why...How?"

"Why did I kill them?" the elder asked softly. A small, almost unnoticeable nod was his reply. "There was no other choice..."

"There must have been!" the red-haired teen cried out.

"Not in our case, young one...When we are discovered to bear such marks as we do, we are hunted down, so as to keep us from gathering."

Aerrow was confused for a moment, until realization dawned on him. "The fourteen disappearance cases."

"Indeed. The Council are not the only ones to have spies amongst the masses." the Dark Ace agreed. "I kept tabs on these disappearances, in order to know when to leave, myself..."

"But...how did my father...the first Storm Hawks...how did they find out?" Aerrow asked quietly.

"I was wounded, shot with an arrow through my leg. It was apparently poisoned, and from what I can remember of it all, I was out of it enough that I couldn't take care of the wound myself..." The ravenette paused, a brief look of sorrow passing through his eyes. "Your father was the one patching up the wound...he saw the King's Mark upon my right thigh..."

"Father knew about my own...He'd been keeping it a secret, but when he found yours..."

Nothing else needed to be said about this - the conclusion could be made from what already had been.

"After my betrayal, Cyclonia was the only place I could go...Thus began the story of the Dark Ace..."

The younger found himself walking towards the other, somehow sensing the sadness within the man's voice and...just wishing to comfort him somehow...

The elder tensed slightly when he felt arms wrap around his waist, but when he glanced down to see the teen's head resting softly on his chest, he relaxed slightly and returned the embrace.

Aerrow heard the voice of the Queen's Mark within his mind again, but this time, it wasn't warning him to get away. For once, it was telling him something about the other.

"It will be alright, Felix..." the younger whispered, shifting closer to the elder. "Everything shall turn out fine, my King..."

The two found their moment interrupted by a knock on the large, gilded doors of the ballroom. They parted only slightly, Felix calling out to whomever it was to enter.

Aerrow saw it was the young woman who brought him here, albeit without her mask. Her prescience this time, however, unnerved him, now that he could see her in her entirety. She had long, violet hair, mostly pulled up into a ponytail, but some cascaded down the sides of her face in slightly curled waves. The top half of her outfit consisted of a smooth, black velvet corset top and elbow-high gloves. She had pants on that almost seemed to have a sheen, and she wore boots the looked to be made of some kind of leather-like material.

What was getting to Aerrow the most was the rest of this girl's appearance. Strange markings covered her arms, and a larger one was slightly visible over the edge of her top. A Gothic pendant hung from a choker on her neck, and many other necklaces surrounded it. Another odd marking lay across her left eye, but it WAS her eyes that were most disturbing to some - they were a bright silver, almost gunmetal in color, and nearly catlike in appearance.

"Illyanna," Felix started, "what is so important that you would go against my orders and disturb us?"

"Forgive me, my King," the young woman, now known as Illyanna, "but Nikita's just reported back."

"So soon?" the elder asked, sounding stunned.

"Yes. Things are moving quicker than we expected. Cyclonia's making its move as we speak, according to what he says. We must start revising our plans accordingly."

"Always the one to start reasoning things out, dear Righthand Knight."

"I am merely trying to preserve the House of Wonderland in whatever way is best." Illyanna stated before shifting her gaze to Aerrow. "I have long awaited the day our beloved Queen takes the throne."

"Then so be it." Aerrow finally piped up. "Let us go and plan something...pleasant...for the rest of Atmos, shall we?"

--

Oh mai...We're definitely seeing some changes here, aren't we? Oh, and guess what? For those who've read "Project Name KIRA" and are in the process of reading "Redemption of a Weapon," you've just met the prototype character basis for Dawne/Iridessa!! Yup, Illyanna is the original Dawne; I've just tweaked her a bit for this story. Anyway, review please!!


	5. Chapter 5

So, how about we go even deeper into our mystery group? Onward, my friends!!

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Disclaimer: Any new characters introduced here on out are mine. Other than that, not so much.

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Fifth Masquerade: The House of Wonderland

--

Aerrow was slightly nervous as he, Felix, and Illyanna walked through the darkened hallways of...wherever they were. He wasn't quite sure exactly where he was. However, he felt safe, being next to his King, so whatever happened he could live with.

"I should probably inform you of some of the other warriors here before we arrive." Illyana said suddenly, breaking the tense silence. "There are twelve of us warriors. You already know me, the Righthand Knight of the King's Retinue. However, there are eleven more.

"Of the rest of the knights, there is the Lefthand Knight of the King's Retinue, Nikita. Manipulation and illusion are his specialties, and he tends to stick to his own company. Azmaria, his twin sister, is the Lefthand Knight of the Queen's Retinue, and is a skilled mage. The Righthand Knight of the Queen's Retinue is Aoi, and she is an invaluable asset to us. She is a Zogal of Terra Oceania, and one of the few left of her kind.

"The Bishops of the King's retinue are both Wildcats - K'lani and Hosha. Both of them are fiercely devoted to defending the House of Wonderland, and have shred any bond they once had with their kin. Sai is the Lefthand Bishop of the Queen's Retinue. He is quite the poetic young man, and has a rather...dramatic...manner of life, but it's quite easy to deal with because his espionage skills are exceptional. The Righthand Bishop of the Queen's Retinue is a young Saharran girl named Nemu. Fighting wise she needs a bit more training, but in the realms of intellect, she cannot be matched.

"Finally, we have the Rooks. Of the Queens Retinue, there is the Lefthand Rook Luniel and the Righthand Rook Alika. Luniel is another rare being, but only a half-blood, and there for he was doubly shunned. His blood line has given him some rather...interesting strengths. I will let you ask him more about those later. Alika is another half-blood, but she's half-Wildcat. She's a skilled rogue, and can sneak into anywhere and pick any lock. King's Retinue Rooks are Lefthand Rook Kuni and Righthand Rook Zita. They're both former Sky Knight Academy recruits, and rather hyper when it comes to getting back at the ones who would throw them away so easily.

"All in all, there are fourteen of us against the thousands combined of Atmos and Cyclonia." Illyanna concluded. "Four Knights, four bishops, four rooks, the Queen, and the King."

"Unseemly odds..." Aerrow sighed softly.

"That's what we wish them to think." the violet-haired woman stated. "We are a force to be reckoned with...especially now that we have you."

The red-haired teen said nothing. He still could not comprehend how such a small group could possibly take on so many, and how he could make such a difference, but again, whatever happened he could live with...

--

"Oh, my!! He's absolutely ~Adorable!!!!" came a rather boisterous cry as they walked into a large meeting room. Aerrow found himself looking into the faces of eleven others...sort of - some of them seemed to prefer the shadows of the room, and one of them was sitting on the sill of one of the higher windows.

Two of the cat-eared-and-tailed ones looked over at the cry, and looked shocked. "Little Hawk?"

Aerrow was nearly stunned at the name - only the Wildcat Tribe of Terra Crysta knew him by that name...so they must've known him...and Rhia...

"Who would've thought that you would've been our Queen?!" the taller male Wildcat asked excitedly, golden ears and tail flicking wildly.

"Indeed, this really is a pleasant surprise!!" the other one squealed, his own cat-features - a deep burgundy color - mimicking his partner's.

"I wouldn't crowd him at the moment..." came a quiet voice from the young man on the window sill, the fingers on one hand moving in odd patterns. It was then that Aerrow saw the strings and wooden puppet he was controlling from that hand. "He is new to this, after all, and will require time to get acquainted."

"Nikita is right." a young woman standing beneath him - nearly identical in appearance - agreed. "Allow him to find his way on his own, K'lani, Hosha."

"As long as he's alright with going against his former allies, I shall be happy." another woman said. She had a rather...odd appearance - light blue and slightly scaly skin, fins coming off her ankles and wrists, her bright red eyes seemed to glow slightly, and she had bluish-silver hair. She barely wore anything, save for some dark green armor over her chest, similar colored gauntlets and shin guards, and what appeared to be a dark green bikini-like bottom piece. She must have been the Zogal that Illyanna mentioned.

Felix cleared his throat a bit, silencing the others immediately. "I'm quite sure you've been informed of Nikita's findings." The others in the room nodded. "Then we must revise our plans immediately in order to counter this effectively. Should Cyclonia be able to forge an alliance against us with Atmos - although unlikely, Cyclonis is quite persuasive in these situations - we could be at a disadvantage."

"This is true." a young girl chimed in, pushing her glasses up a bit. "If it was us against one or the other, we would have little if any trouble taking the lead in battle. However, with Atmos gaining strength with their sky knights and other groups of warriors, and Cyclonia's crystal technology...if they did join forces, we could very easily be forced to retreat, or even defeated, in little time at all."

"Oh, lovely vote of confidence, Nemu." came a young man's voice.

"Merely stating the facts, Luniel." Nemu retorted. "After all, it is the truth."

"While Nemu has a point..." Aerrow finally spoke up, "there is a weak point or two in both Atmos and Cyclonia's strengths."

They all looked at him curiously. Weak points they didn't know about?

"Atmos is more often than not stationing their squadrons closer to Cyclonia to combat the recent waves of attacks, instead of keeping them at their respective terras. Also, they've been leaving the prisons less guarded than before." he began. "As for Cyclonia, they've been having to branch out to find more resources to fuel their research. However, as of late, it seems they've been more focused on trying to invade and conquer. While we've been able to stop this, they seem relentless...but there's a cost."

"They're leaving there dig sites relatively unguarded..." Illyanna conjectured.

"Exactly. We could easily cripple either side by exploiting these current weaknesses." the red-haired teen concluded.

"Genius!" "I'm so glad he's here now!" "Oh man, this could be the best stuff ever!!" "They shall fall before us like lambs to the slaughter." Many other comments like this came from the occupants of the room, all of them varying in excitement levels, but easily showing their agreement.

"Then let us form a plan to utilize this information..." Felix stated sinisterly...

--

Long after the meeting was finished, Aerrow found himself wandering around the mansion, investigating the area he would now reside. The plan itself was relatively simple in design, but elegant in the way it would be executed. His current worry was on Azmaria's position in it - they had decided it was necessary to "relieve" some of the worry his comrades might have, and she was the one who would be doing so. He sighed softly, shaking his head lightly to clear his mind of these thoughts.

"My Queen?" a soft voice came from behind him, startling him quite a bit. Turning to face its source, he found himself looking at Nemu, who in turn was staring back him with large golden eyes behind thin-rimmed glasses. Pale blond hair was pulled back into a messy braid, and she clutched a large book to her chest. She wore a light pink dress with short, puffy sleeves, decorated with lacy designs and silhouettes of what looked to be little candies. Short white gloves covered her hands, and she had white stockings and light pink slippers to complete the ensemble. "Is something the matter?"

"Just worried about the others...their missions..."

"Oh, there's nothing to worry about!" the child chirped, a cheerful expression gracing her face. "I calculated the odds of success for all their missions, and there's virtually no chance whatsoever of failure!"

Aerrow was, to say the least, rather surprised that someone so young could do such a thing, but remembering where he was, he recanted that thought rather quickly.

"Besides, even IF something went wrong, each of them can take care of themselves quite well. For instance, one of Azmaria's spells creates duplicates of her, so if she finds herself in trouble, she can use that, have all of them split up, and escape while her pursuers go after her duplicates."

"That puts my mind at ease...Thank you, Nemu."

"It was no trouble at all. Besides, if I can't be of any help, why am I here in the first place?" she said, motioning to the area around them with a slight giggle. "Hey, have you been to the library yet?" Aerrow shook his head, indicating that he hadn't. "You totally need to!! There are so many books there, and on just about every subject there is!!" And with that, the red-head found himself being dragged off towards the library by an overly-enthusiastic girl...

--

Alright, I know I said this chapter would be up sooner than the last, but...the holiday season's kinda getting me down, since it's gonna be the first since my uncle's death. So, it's kinda hard on the whole family right now, and we're trying to work things out through it all. Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this one!!


	6. Chapter 6

Alright, alright, I know you guys have been waiting a long time for this chapter. I'll take the blame for once - Christmas was fairly hard, especially when you've been feeling like biting the head off a random caroler and spitting it amongst the group to watch it go around like a pinball game. Yeah, didn't like Christmas much this year (read last chapter's footnote for part of the reason why). Anyway, here's the next chapter of the story!

--

Disclaimer: Same as always. Don't own Storm Hawks, just the new stuff being introduced into it for the story.

--

Sixth Masquerade: Awakening

--

Success seemed so far away for the many squadrons still gathered as they tried not only to decipher the cases already given, but the one that now involved their fellow sky knight. Every lead ran cold, every clue took them into dead ends, and their small team of scientists still had yet to figure out anything about the barrier around that terra or the poison used on Aerrow.

All appeared hopeless, useless. It could be too late for the others who had disappeared, but still...could they really give up on Aerrow like this?

Suddenly, alarms were going off every - the proximity alarms from the many carriers. Cyclonians? No, there wasn't a ship in the sky. Then what...

A single person stood out from the group, cloaked entirely except for the face, which was covered by a mask. Said mask was pure black, save for the white relief of a knight chess piece above the left eye, and a white crescent moon cutting through the right one. A small, white diamond shape was placed between the tips of the moon.

"Who are you?!" Starling demanded, brandishing her nunchaku, while others brought out their weapons in response.

"My name is of no importance." the figure, now known to be a young woman, replied. "What I have to say might ease your minds, however."

Some lowered their weapons slightly. Others raised their blades even higher. The rest kept their positions as still as before.

"SPEAK!!!" Harrier roared, fury blazing in his golden eyes.

"Kindness does more than force, Harrier of the Rex Guardians." the young woman chuckled. "However, I suppose I shall acquiesce just this once."

Everyone stilled when she tossed a lock of hair - bright red, tied into a small bundle with a piece of torn dark-red-then-blue cloth, obviously a piece of uniform - towards them.

"Our Queen says no harm shall come to him provided you call off all efforts to search the terra you have found. Your scientists can even test that hair - they will find that it does, indeed, belong to your beloved sky knight, and that it was only recently cut."

Rhia snarled before switching to her wildcat form suddenly and going in with a lunge before any could stop her, fangs and razor-sharp claws bared with a feral roar.

...she was repelled by a blast of freezing wind, one that caused her to revert to her normal, humanoid form. Rhia coughed harshly, her squadron rushing over to her side to help her - Nicolas and Azure helping her stand, and Kihara using her magic to reverse the cold and heal any damage.

"Attacking me will do you no good." the woman sneered. "Nor will it help your friend." With that, she disappeared like the wind she had just summoned.

--

Elsewhere, at around the same time the alarms began going off on Terra Rex, alarms were also going off at a Cyclonian dig site. Talons were in a rush all over the place, trying to find the intruder. However, their foe was incredibly elusive, and would not be found.

_Those idiotic worms..._ Nikita thought, watching from his shadowed perch - a ledge right above all the action, no less right on one of the few buildings there. He'd managed to destroy many of their mining sites using the crystals already there (since crystals are highly unstable before they're refined, and one wrong move could easily set off an explosive chain reaction), and that was BEFORE the alarms went off. _They probably wouldn't even notice if their weapons were to malfunction..._

He grinned sinisterly before whipping out some of his puppeteer strings and attaching them to the staves of the closest, stationary Talons. Focusing some of his power through them, he caused some of the internal wiring to snap before retracting the strings.

The explosions that soon resulted caused him to bite his lip to restrain his gleeful laughter - how he _enjoyed_ causing pain to those of lesser intelligence. However, he knew that his position would soon be compromised, and quickly disappeared into the shadows, leaving absolutely no trace he had ever existed on that terra.

--

Simultaneously, Alika was sneaking through the shadows herself on Atmosia's prison terra, picking locks as she went. Save for a few random wardens, the whole place was dead asleep, and took no notice of the barely perceptible "clinks" of the jail cell doors' bolts coming open.

She smiled as she made through the last one with ease - oh, yes, she was THAT good. Now...to execute the chaos.

Being only half-wildcat, she could only stay in the smaller form (also known as "Housecat Size) for about an hour, unlike a full Wildcat, who could stay in it as long as they like. If she trained more, she could stay in it longer, but an hour was sufficient for all her escapes for now. Especially since in this one, she needed to first wake up a prisoner by biting him, then hide under his bed until a perfect moment to flee.

...Ah, the perfect target - a man who'd been placed in the jail for murder...She transformed, then quietly crept up before making the attack. He screamed, then went on the rage, not finding it strange at all that something had bit him OR that his cell was open. Like wildfire, the effect spread - others woke up, and managed to get out of their cells in the ensuing panic. In her little spot, Alika mentally chuckled before leaping up onto the bed, then out the window - she didn't need to stay to see what happened, nor could she.

Besides, Illyanna wouldn't leave that teleportation point open much longer, and she had no other way of making back home...She sped up in her running.

--

Somehow, Aerrow could feel that the three had success in their missions before they even had a chance to return. It was strange, but he didn't question it.

"They've succeeded?" he heard Felix ask softly. The teen only nodded.

"That he could tell so soon means he's awakening quicker than we expected..." he heard Illyanna murmur. Both looked at her, and Aerrow grew slightly concerned at the serious (well, more so than usual) expression on her face. "Follow me to the tower." she said, turning quickly on her heel and heading out of the room. She stopped when she noticed neither were following her. "NOW!!!" She then left.

"You'll let her order you like this?" Aerrow asked softly, concerned.

"It would seem she has some inkling as to what's happening with you..." Felix sighed out in reply. "I will make an exception this time."

Minutes later found them, along with Nemu, in one of the four towers of the mansion. Aerrow felt slightly uneased by his surroundings, and he could feel that his King was as well.

"My Queen, it is time for you to fully awaken your powers." Illyanna stated, her silver gaze fixed on him unnervingly. Her hand motioned to a circle drawn on the floor. "Stand within." she said simply.

Aerrow did as he was told warily. He watched as Illyanna and Nemu stood opposite each other and began chanting something. Suddenly, he blacked out, similar to the times before that were induced by Illyanna's sleeping powder...but also so different...

Felix, however, was watching on in trepidation. He had watched Illyanna perform this a few times before, but never on somebody so close to him. True, he knew his current fears were entirely irrational, but that didn't calm him much at all. While he knew so much about Aerrow as a person, he knew nothing at all about who he would become once his abilities as the Queen were fully awakened. As such, even he was feeling slightly frightened at the potential that lay within the boy, like he had picked up on from some of the others. All he could do now was wait...

--

Aerrow let out a soft groan as he awoke hours later, feeling as if he'd been out for days. He felt fingers combing gently through his hair, and his eyes fluttered open to find the worried face of Felix looking down on him.

"Mmm...what happened?" he asked quietly, his voice barely above a whisper...but something sounded off about his own voice...something he couldn't quite place...

"The Awakening...you passed out right after..." the dark-haired man replied. "I was so worried about you, Aerrow..."

"Forgive me for worrying you so..." the teen said, his voice a bit louder this time. Now he KNEW something was off with his voice...and he could tell something had changed about him, as well, know that he had woken up a bit more. "Felix...has something happened to me?"

"You should...you should see for yourself..."

With that, Felix helped Aerrow to stand and walk over to the large mirror in the room. Aerrow gasped when he saw himself: his ruby locks were much longer, down to about the middle of his back, and he was taller, more feminine looking...androgynous if you will. He had to admit, it was a good look...yet drastic and rather unexpected.

"It would seem the Awakening did not only recognize your abilities...but changed you to match your position in the House..." the elder whispered, wrapping his arms around the younger's waist.

Aerrow was silent, taking in his new appearance. Surprisingly, he liked it. It was different from the way he looked before, when he was a sky knight. It separated him from the time he could do nothing at all. He turned slightly in his King's arms, looking into glittering garnet eyes.

"Do not worry..." he said, placing a hand on the elder's cheek. "I'll be alright. It is the ones who oppose us who should now worry."

_For I now know what it is I must do. _ He added to himself, beginning to form new plans for the demise of Atmos.

--

Oh boy...Aerrow sure is falling into the evil role rather well, isn't he? Again, sorry for the long time between updates - Christmas, then birthday, then broken ankle...yup, writing's been the least of my worries. I'll take the blame, and try to get an update up sooner next time around. In the mean time, please review!!


	7. Chapter 7

Well, we have reached the seventh part in our story. Let us go farther in now, shall we?

--

Disclaimer: Same as always. I'll let you know if anything changes.

--

Seventh Masquerade: Puppet Across the Line

--

"So, what now?" Nikita asked in a bored tone, playing once again with a small mannequin from the windowsill in the meeting hall.

"Aerrow...has a small plan in mind that could keep us at least a step ahead of the others." Felix replied softly.

Everyone looked at him confusedly.

"Now that he knows what his abilities are, he has devised a way that could get us inside the group of sky knights, without risking any of us getting caught."

"How would he manage that one?" Alika muttered, head tilted slightly.

"He didn't explain it to me, either..." the dark-haired man sighed. "That is what worries me the most...that he would have to be so secretive about this..."

"What exactly _are_his abilities?" Luniel questioned, looking over to Illyanna and Nemu.

"The only one we can be sure of is one that acts similarly to the barrier protecting this terra..." Illyanna began. "The crystalline pendant he now wears around his neck is a small chip from the one at the heart of the terra. As we know with the barrier of the terra, it will react to anything that could potentially threaten our existence. With his - and this is only conjecture - it is in tune to his emotions, especially those of fear and rage."

"It would be especially useful in battle." Nemu added pointedly, pushing her glasses up. "We've all experienced these emotions before, and have felt what is called an "adrenaline rush" during and afterwards. The crystal he carries responds to that and augments it greatly..."

"...but, like Illyanna said, it's all just a theory." K'lani finished, gold tail waving slowly side to side in silent thought. Hosha placed a hand on his partner's shoulder, staring into the other's eyes as if trying to read his thoughts. It sent shivers down most of the group's spines how they had a kind of mental link, without being related by any means save for being of the same clan.

Azmaria huffed in frustration. "Conjecture or not, a guess is better than not knowing anything at all about his power." She snarled, obviously tired of listening to everybody tossing around ideas about their Queen instead of ideas about their next move. After all, she was a woman of action, not a woman of sitting around all day and twiddling her thumbs.

The others nodded in silent agreement, also noting the tone in her voice. Felix sighed softly, trying to push his worry for Aerrow to the back recesses of his mind for now...

--

Meanwhile, Aerrow was within his room, mentally preparing himself for what he was about to do. At one time, the people he was getting ready to betray were as close as his parents were to him...they were like his family...

Yet, after that meeting...how could those ties be fully repaired? When they all agreed to investigate a new terra, instead of search for missing people...

He knew he couldn't ever truly forgive that. Not when the oath he knew that ALL sky knights swore had said they were to protect the people to their fullest extent.

Sighing softly, he lightly ran a finger over the glimmering, bluish-black crystal hanging delicately around his neck. It pulsed faintly at the action, and he allowed a slight smile to grace his face.

Standing up, Aerrow reaffirmed his determination. He had to do this.

And he also knew who his target would be...

--

"It's outrageous how they were able to do this!!!!" Harrier roared, having to be restrained from going on a rampage by his squadron. No doubt he was pissed off by the events that had happened the night before. Even hearing what had been done to Cyclonia - they had been making plans to try and take that particular mining camp in order to weaken their opponent - was quite maddening. "Two near impossible missions, done as if they were NOTHING!!!!"

"Harrier, calm down." Rhia said coldly - she herself was still upset from their nighttime visitor. Kihara and every other squadron specialist had been locked up, trying to verify if the young woman's words were true or not, and also trying to gather as much information as possible on the recent attacks. "Getting upset and giving yourself an ulcer or a heart attack won't get us anywhere."

Nobody said anything after that - the Wildcat girl was normally very kind and cheerful, and to hear her say something like this (no less to a higher ranking sky knight) was rather out of the ordinary. Of course, learning that the person you grew up with and considered your brother was now being held prisoner and that your every action dictated whether or not he would be killed kind of dampened your mood.

"Rhia's right." Nicolas finally chimed in, walking up next to his captain. "We all need to just calm down and look at this rationally."

Before he could explain how they could do this, however, alarms began blaring...another attack.

"Again?!" somebody cried out, running out to see what it was this time. "What the...they're..."

Everybody ran out, weapons in hand...save for Finn...he saw something in the shadows.

He pointed his crossbow at it, warily watching whatever it was for movement.

The blond suddenly felt soft hands on his shoulders, and breath on the back of his neck. The figure in the shadows wasn't there any longer...it had to be whatever was behind him.

"I've been waiting for this moment..." a soft, lilting voice whispered, sending shivers down his spine. He couldn't speak, his breath seemed to come in short gasps, and his blood felt cold as ice in his veins. "You are the perfect choice..."

"Wh-what?"

The person was all of a sudden in front of him, pressing their lips to his. A jolt of energy flowed into him, and he was almost completely paralyzed. His brain screamed at him to push away, to try and fight back, to do anything at all, but none of his limbs listened.

_No...blacking out...can't do this...have to warn the others..._he thought before passing into unconsciousness, collapsing into the person's arms.

--

The others had been fighting what seemed to be golems made of the surrounding rock. Every time they destroyed one, however, it reformed. Until...they suddenly turned to small piles of rock, forming what seemed to be the word "DIVERSION" on the ground.

"Diversion? What could this mean?" Starling questioned softly, brows furrowed as she thought carefully over the possibilities.

Looking around, a certain Wallop became confused. "Hey, wasn't Finn with us before the fight?" Junko asked confusedly.

Cursory glances around the area confirmed that, indeed, the blond Storm Hawk was not among them. They quickly ran back to the building, where they found Finn laying unconscious on the ground. Azure was the first to reach him, immediately checking for vitals.

"He's alive." she said after confirming a pulse and breathing. "Just unconcious...what could've happened?"

"Could the same thing that happened to Aerrow have happened to him?" Nicolas questioned.

"Not likely." Kihara, walking out of an adjoining room replied - she and the other specialists missed the fight, but for good reasons apparently. "We've made some headway on the poison finally, and from the information we've been able to gather from those attacks last night, we've been able to deduce there are at least three or more."

"Three's a given, but more?" somebody asked.

"None of them, based on the methods used in the incidents, show the capabilities needed to make the poison used." Piper clarified. "Like Kihara said a few days prior, it's based off a flower from the rose family, but it's apparently one that we think only grows on that terra in particular - the Black Rose...since we've seen it on that terra, but no others, we can only guess there is civilization there, and the person making this is adept in herbology."

"However, the poison also contains a type of magic I've researched, but never actually encountered before." Kihara added. "That's why we had such a hard time identifying it in the first place, much less getting down to the basic ingredients."

"Why don't you think it was also used on Finn?" Starling questioned.

"Mostly because Azure could confirm he was alive. When we reached Aerrow, the only thing we could tell was breathing - there was no pulse to be found at first until an hour later, if you recall." Kihara said flatly.

"That poison...is it possible to recreate it, or make an antidote?" Harrier asked.

"It's possible to make a recreation, given the right substitutes." Kihara confirmed. "However, I would not recommend it - the person using the magic behind this is obviously quite skilled at it, thus able to use it safely, whereas I've only the basics at it, and could not accurately replicate his or her spells. By trying to substitute my own magic in place of their's, I could either accidentally mess up in the recreation, or cause an adverse reaction that could cause any number of things, an explosion that could kill us all being included. As for an antidote, almost the same applies."

The fact she said this in such a monotone voice made many wonder how sane she might be, but then they remembered - she grew up being revered by her people as the embodiment of their first high priestess and a prodigy; that's enough to make anybody apathetic towards anything.

"Well...at least we have some insight into what we're dealing with..." Starling muttered before noticing Finn beginning to wake up.

"Owwww..." he groaned. "What happened to me?"

"You were knocked unconscious. We're not sure how." Azure said, helping him sit up. "Do you remember anything about it?"

"No...The last thing I remember is the alarms going off...Everything else is a blank after that." he replied, trying to remember but failing.

Everyone looked worried - they couldn't help but wonder if something was done to him, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary just yet...

--

"It's done." Aerrow said softly as he returned to the others. They looked at him confusedly. "We have a little...trick card...inside the opposition."

"How'd you manage that?" Nikita asked, eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Distract the others, then implant some of my energy in one. He doesn't remember anything about it, and never will. Everything he hears is now everything I hear. We can now form plans based on their every move."

"Ingenious." Illyanna complemented. "What have they figured out so far?"

"That there are more than three, and some more about the "poison" you used to get me here. Kihara of the Thunder Eagles has just explained the dangers of trying to recreate it using her magic."

"Smart girl." the violet-haired woman chuckled, a dark edge to her voice. "Perhaps I should test her with more of my creations? If she liked figuring out my concoction created from the pollen of the black rose, she will love the others I have made."

"Don't get too carried away." Felix said nonchalantly. "Leave some to use for the occasions ahead."

"My King," Illyanna said with a smirk, "you should know by now I never disappoint. I am always creating new potions and poisons that will aid you and the Queen in some way."

"In which you are always praised for." Aerrow stated, watching as Illyanna bowed respectfully. "At the current time, they are bustling about the one I've chosen for my informant, trying to find any signs of abnormality. Anytime now, however, they will be faced with...a rather unusual ally."

"Oh?" Azmaria chimed in, now intrigued - the playing field had a chance to become more interesting.

"On my way back, I saw a Cyclonian cruiser en route to Rex...It's markings showed it to be the one Cyclonis herself uses, so I can only guess she wishes to form an alliance against us."

"What would you have us do?"

Felix and Aerrow looked at each other as if conversing plans...which they might have been.

"Illyanna, take Sai with you and create a little havoc amongst the two groups. We'll leave the exact methods up to you both."

"My favorite kind of battle." the violet-haired woman chuckled, pulling her mask out and placing it on her face before leaping into the air and disappearing in a swirl of mist.

"Such trivial matters are best left to her alone, but I shall follow my orders nonetheless." Sai, well, sighed, snapping his fingers and vanishing into thin air.

"In the meantime," Felix began, "the rest of you take your secondary forms and do reconnaissance amongst the other terras. I want to know how our actions are affecting the people of Atmos."

--

Oh, boy...Evil Aerrow might be the last thing people expect to hit Atmos...And how about Cyclonis? Anyway, reviews are much loved!!


	8. Chapter 8

The eighth part of our story! How shall things turn out? Let's read on and learn!!

--

Disclaimer: Same as always. Though I will add that the title is based off a song by Ali Project.

--

Eighth Masquerade: King's Knight

--

You can definitely be sure that, after all the attacks recently by their mysterious assailant, the conglomerate of sky knights and squadrons were definitely ready to attack first, ask questions later, when the Cyclonian cruiser appeared on Rex's edge.

When no attacks began, small questions were raised, but they still kept their weapons ready.

As a single skimmer came down, and the cruiser turned to leave as it deployed, they grew even more confused...especially when they saw who was piloting the single craft as it grew closer.

"DAWNE?!" Piper cried out in shock, particularly when she saw the empress of Cyclonia behind the young woman.

"Shut. Up. Now." the silverette growled. "I didn't want the job, but whatever pays."

"Indeed. And who better to be a bodyguard than one of the deadliest people in Atmos?" Cyclonis asked.

"If you're here to rub salt in our wounds..." Harrier snarled.

"She's not." Dawne huffed. "I would've killed her myself if she was going to gloat about that."

"I'm paying you how much for this?" the dark queen asked dryly, glaring at the young woman beside her.

"You're paying two million gold pieces for security of your person for the duration of your stay outside of Cyclonia." Dawne said simply. "That, unfortunately, does not cover my not being sarcastic, caustic, and overall a royal bitch because it was you and your father who initially made my life a living hell to begin with."

"...point taken..."

Needless to say, the people on the side of Atmos were quite stunned that Dawne hadn't just gotten herself blasted into oblivion with that. Was Cyclonis maybe afraid of Dawne? Or just not going to risk having her decide to keep the money and "feed her to the wolves," so to speak?

"Anyway, your on Rex, aren't you going to go debate your little plan anytime soon? Or do I need to do that for you?" the silver-haired mercenary yawned, leaning against the skimmer behind her. She earned herself another glare from the empress, but that didn't seem to phase the woman.

"Plan?"

"Indeed." Cyclonis stated. "It would seem this new opponent is after both of us. Equally. Therefore, I am offering a truce."

"...you are saying you will fight alongside us?"

"Until this new enemy is stopped, at least. They've decimated many of my legions already, and I'm sure you've gotten report of the attack on our crystal mines."

"...you've forgotten the fact that they've got your best warrior. Is that on purpose or completely by accident?" Dawne asked boredly, earning another glare from her employer. The silver-haired mercenary merely shrugged, the look on her face conveying the unspoken words "Am I wrong?"

One word went through some of the younger Atmosians' minds at this point: burned. Cyclonis definitely couldn't make a decent come back to that little fact.

"You are taking a large risk." Azure, ever the strategist, warned. "If word gets out to either side that we're cooperating - not say that we will, of course - the consequences will be dire."

"Is it not a risk worth taking? The technology and crystal resources of Cyclonia at your side against this foe? Not to mention the added forces."

The empress made a compelling case. The remaining Storm Hawks looked at their long-time, silver-haired friend. She merely shook her head. "Do not look to me for your answers." she stated softly. "I'm only a mercenary; I take the jobs people need me to do. In effect, I am a neutral force in the war between Atmos and Cyclonia. This is your decision, and your decision alone."

"Being neutral, then," Harrier began, "if these new opponents were to offer you a job, would you accept it?"

"I will be completely honest - it is hard to say." she said, and much of the gathered crowd gasped in shock. "On the one hand, Aerrow has always been like my younger brother - these people have taken him, and I do not think I can serve such people as them."

"And the other?" Rhia nearly growled.

"...depends on what they offer, really. And also which side I think would have a better advantage in full scale war."

All was silent, save the sounds of the surrounding nature. Dawne sighed, continuing. "At the current moment, from what I've been able to tell, our opponent has the advantage. Until we can gain more information on them, they will continue to have the advantage."

A sudden giggle from somewhere nearby - menacing, unfamiliar in tone, had them all ready for attack again.

"The silver-haired one is smart..." a woman's voice chuckled, but from where none could say.

"Of course she is, dearest knight! For she is the star warrior of this show!" another voice - male, yet uncommonly high pitched ((AN: think Kuja's voice in Dissidia Final Fantasy)).

Harrier growled before roaring, "Show yourselves, you cowards!!!"

"Cowards? Us?" the woman's voice replied in a mocking tone. "Why, is it not you who would rather play around with chunks of dirt than save a tortured soul?"

"Is it not you who left your comrade to be captured and enslaved at our hands?" the other continued.

All were seething inside - they were mocking them for their choices, some they had no control over. They had no leads on the missing people, so they chose the course of action that could potentially get them somewhere. They didn't know Aerrow was in danger in his own ship, and as such didn't think much of leaving him to sleep as they worked on an antidote of some sort.

"And of course, let's not forget the terror your citizens felt when vicious criminals suddenly found their ways into the streets of their towns! How foolish of you sky knights to place your prison there!"

"And m'lady Empress - did thou not consider in the slightest the risk of explosion? How many men were burned alive in the fires caused by our little escapade on your mining site? How many still were maimed for life by the explosions? And how many were killed because they failed to realize their weapons were, shall we say, sabotaged?"

"ENOUGH!!!!" Cyclonis yelled, a much darker voice leaking into her normal tone. There was silence for a few moments, followed closely by giggles.

"Have we hit a nerve, dearest lady?" the man crooned, mocking still. No concern was in that question, it was too easy to tell.

"Truly sorry. Perhaps a condolence gift is in order?"

"Ah, yes, my lovely knight. A small token to ease their weary souls. The perfect idea! Yet, what shall it be?"

"My darling bishop, you know me all too well! Shouldn't you have conjectured by now that I would have something to soothe these poor dears?"

Uneasy silence was followed by a barrage of small needles, thrown far too fast to be successfully dodged. All were hit somewhere on their body, be hit an arm, a leg, or the side of the neck (unfortunately for Stork, he was hit square in the forehead).

"A perfect choice!" the man cried out.

"As soon as it hits the blood stream, they will be paralyzed for a few hours...plenty of time for us to escape..."

Kihara's eyes widened - the woman speaking was the one who created the sleeping poison used on Aerrow!! She just had to be!! The Glyphian then felt eyes on her, and felt the hairs on her neck stand up.

"You're the one who deduced my first poison, aren't you?" said the woman's voice. "Then perhaps you'll find out what this one's made of later...there's a sample already in the lab waiting for you. Enjoy the challenge, Kihara." Said Glyphian wanted to vomit that the woman already knew her name AND that she had figured out how to make the poison.

Unfortunately for her, the woman was right - the effects of paralysis had hit her as soon as whatever was in the needle made it to her blood stream. She could only deduce it was the same for the others. However, from what she knew of Dawne, the silverette hopefully wouldn't be in this state as long as the others...provided the woman didn't take that into account when creating this.

Only time would tell on that one, she decided.

"Farewell, dearest actors. Until the next scene in our show!" the male voice said. A sound similar to something being sucked into a vortex was heard, and then silence.

Well, if that's how they got around, then tracking was nigh impossible. That's what they wanted to say, but they either couldn't say it, or didn't want to.

Finn, however, was having a different train of thoughts. He was trying to remember what had happened to him earlier that day. When he blacked out...he swore he remembered feeling a familiar presence nearby...It could have just been his mind trying to force him back into consciousness, trying to get him to fight back, but he threw that thought aside.

He knew, deep in his heart, that somebody he knew closely was there...

Just who?...

--

Felix was gathering the reports from the gathered warriors when the sound of glass shattering and an unholy shriek of anger was heard from one of the towers. They all were nearly scared out of their skin, but the "King" was the first to recover, rushing towards the origin of the sound.

What he found was Aerrow, his fist bloody from where he had shattered a mirror, body shuddering as he took harsh breaths, eyes narrowed in pure rage and pupils dilated, and an aura that seemed to burn the air around him. Felix gulped slightly as he saw the splinters of glass slowly begin to push themselves out of Aerrow's hand, the cuts slowly healing themselves, leaving small scars behind before fading.

"How is this possible?!" the red-head seethed, his voice no more than a hiss.

"What has happened?"

"My puppet...he's somehow regaining his memory!!"

The temperature in the room rose a few degrees, and Felix could see scald marks appear on various objects in the room. Anymore of this, and the whole room could burst into flames.

"Aerrow...my queen..." the ravenette whispered softly, soothingly, "solutions are always available...you have twelve capable warriors at your disposal should you need them..." This seemed to calm him a little, so he continued. "Even I, myself, would be willing to follow your desires in this unforeseen situation..."

The room began to cool off, and Felix stepped over to where the teen stood, still breathing harshly. He embraced the younger, pulling him up against his chest. "There is always a solution to problems such as these, my beautiful queen..."

"Of course..." Aerrow sighed, sinking into the embrace. "Forgive me for letting my anger control me so..."

"There is nothing to forgive..." Felix murmured. "Such is the burden of your powers..."

Aerrow nodded in agreement, as he still didn't know what some of his abilities were.

He could only hope something could be done of the current situation...

--

Hey!! Sorry for the long time between updates!! Applying for colleges and scholarships and all that shizzles has been HELL!!!! And mom's been making me keep my room clean on top of it (which, since it kinda has been cleaned since sophomore year high school, and I'm now a senior...yeah...). Plus, I'm trying to get some preliminary designs for a dress I'll be entering into a competition ($50,000 in scholarship money as a grand prize is nothing to sneeze at) done, so fanfic-ing is WAY behind. I'll try to keep my updates as regular as possible, since graduation is pretty soon, but no guarantees. On the plus side, if you're a member of Gaia Online, you can PM me or leave me a profile comment asking about updates to my stories. Check my profile for screen names.


	9. Chapter 9

New chapter! Before we go on, I will say one thing - the rating on this might have to be bumped up to M at some point. Not sure, and I might let you all decide, but just as a warning, I figured I'd tell you things could be getting a bit more graphic in the future chapters. I'm also going to apologize now for the LONG time between updates - colleges have been spamming my computer, and I've been kind of avoiding it like the plague for a while...I'll probably be on it a lot more now, since colleges across the US are now starting up, and will HOPEFULLY stop emailing me all the time.

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Disclaimer: The OCs, new terra, and all that others stuff placed inside the creating of Asaph Fipke and Nerd Corps is mine. Storm Hawks, however, isn't.

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Ninth Masquerade: Tragic Innocence

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Since the last attack, two nights had fallen, Kihara had made little (if any) progress at identifying the new poison given to them by their enemy, Cyclonia was now under truce with them until whatever they both were facing was gone, and all of Atmos seemed under a dark cloud from this new threat's prescience.

Finn, himself, felt as though the gloom shared by the people of Atmos was similar to his own. He couldn't figure out what happened that day, why he fell unconscious, or who that person was.

It frustrated him to no end. And when Finn was frustrated, he tended to get on people's nerves. Such was the case with the wild-cat leader of the Thunder Eagles at the moment, who HAD been trying to go through her sword routines, but the fact that Finn was watching her incredibly closely was unnerving her and causing her to mess up every so often. It was discernible to Finn, but she could tell, and it irked her to no end.

"Would you MIND?" she finally growled at him, sheathing her sword and turning to face him, eye twitching in annoyance and her arms crossed as she stomped over to him.

"Huh?" The blond snapped out of his reverie, shrinking back a little at the enraged cat-girl.

"Your STARING at me is getting annoying, AND it's causing me to screw up! Why exactly ARE you staring at me, anyway?" she snapped, crimson eyes a fiery red.

Finn gulped as he thought carefully over his answer. "Another person can't study how somebody fights? Seriously?"

Rhia sighed in her OWN frustration now. "You don't even USE a sword, much less any form of martial arts, in combat. Why would you need to study how I fight?"

"In case I come up against somebody who uses one or both of those methods?" he replied rather cautiously. "Or, maybe I was thinking about taking up one of those just in case?"

"...plausible excuse..." Rhia muttered. "Fine. I'm letting you slide THIS time. Next time, though, I'm not being so lenient."

Finn let out the breath he'd apparently been holding as she headed back to where she'd been practicing. "Oh, yeah," he heard her call over her shoulder, "if you really want to learn, try asking next time. Maybe you won't get yourself almost clawed."

"I'll keep that in mind..." he whispered, heading off into the surrounding woods with his heart gratefully beating.

* * *

Later on, Finn found himself rather lost. Apparently, the woods were a bit larger than they appeared from the air. He looked around...and realized that he'd passed by a certain tree at least three times now trying to get out.

Yup...he was officially lost. Great.

Of course, he nearly freaked out when something bumped into him.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" a young girl's voice exclaimed, and he turned to find...a very pretty young lady standing behind him, looking quite flustered from running into him. "I...I wasn't looking were I was going! I've been lost in these woods for days, and I was just running around trying to find my way out, and..."

"Woah, woah, slow down!" the blond said quickly. "Name?"

"Oh! I apologize for not introducing myself! My name's Rea. I was separated from my father when we came out to the woods looking for some herbs to make some medicine for my mother, and I'm afraid he's either found a way out and is waiting for me, or is lost deeper in the forest...the latter is more likely..."

Now that Rae was a bit calmer, Finn got a better look at her - she had dark brown hair, glittering green eyes that shined like the light on the leaves, and her dress (though a bit torn and dirty from where she'd been in the forest so long) was a light blue with lace over the skirt-like part and edging the hem and sleeves. She had a matching choker on, with a small golden pendant shaped like a heart hanging from it, and her hair was pulled into a messy braid, the bows at the top and bottom askew. Despite the tattered look from her ordeals, she was still...well, quite beautiful.

"Well...would you like my help?" Finn asked softly, not wanting to startle her or anything. Rae looked at him in shock, her eyes widening.

"Oh, would you, please? I'd feel so much safer not traveling by myself!"

"It's not a problem. It might be easier finding a way out with two people looking instead of just one, right?"

"Yes, perhaps you're right!" Rae agreed, a smile making its way to her face. "I don't think I ever got your name..."

"Name's Finn. Nice to make your acquaintance."

"Same to you."

"Shall we start looking?"

"Yes! Let's hurry! My father could be in here, still!"

* * *

Hours had passed, and the sun was beginning to set. Finding a way out of the forest had yet to be a success for the pair, yet the two were still determined. Finn had kept them both amused by telling Rae stories of his exploits with the Storm Hawks.

"He's actually allergic to Murk Raiders?" Rae giggled, unable to believe what she had just heard from Finn about their time in Terra Deep.

"Yup. He'd forgotten about it until we actually encountered them. Some help there, huh?"

"I'd bet!" she giggled again. "Did his sneezes give you away or anything?"

"Come to think of it, yeah...once or twice, at least. Of course, he used a couple of them to defeat some of the Raiders."

Rae all out laughed at this, and Finn joined her as he recalled the image.

"Oh, I wish I could join you on your ship just once!" she exclaimed. "It sounds just wonderful, to be able to fly through the air to anywhere you want!"

"It's not all fun and games...but maybe we can take you for a ride sometime."

"Really?"

"Of course!"

Their conversation was cut short when they heard a groan from nearby. "Did you hear that?" Rae asked softly, scooting closer to Finn in slight fear. Finn nodded, eyes scanning the area for any sign of danger. Another groan - a bit louder - was heard, and then the young woman ran from where they were towards it, shouting, "FATHER!" True enough, when they both reached the origin of the sound, they found an injured man, similar in appearance to the young woman.

"We should get him help!" Finn exclaimed, his instincts kicking in. He was stopped when neither of the two made any motion...or sound for that matter. He looked at them for any reaction, but their faces seemed to be veiled in shadow. Suddenly, they both grinned, and looked up at him.

"Hee-hee! Fell for it~!" Rae said in a sing-song voice before Finn was enveloped in a pool of shadow, struggling to get free but ultimately failing as he was dragged into the abyss it created. The two others disappeared after, leaving no trace that the three had ever disturbed the forest at all...

* * *

"Where the hell am I? Why am I here?" Finn demanded of the two people in front of him - "Rae", and her "father".

"Rae" chuckled evilly. "Why, dearest Finn! Surely you've figured it out! After all, your memories from the day I made you my pawn are beginning to come back, are they not?"

Finn growled lowly - so SHE was the one who attacked him that day...

"She?" the girl before him asked softly, clucking her tongue. "My dear, it's not like that at all." she...or, rather he, said as the illusion faded to reveal...

"A...Aerrow?" Finn cried out in shock, his eyes widening so much he thought they would fall out of his head. The other person's illusion faded as well to reveal that he was the Dark Ace.

"It's been far too long, dearest friend..." the red-haired teen said softly, walking up to the teen chained to the wall and caressing his cheek softly. "Tell me, how was it, being a pawn in our little war game? Not knowing that every bit of information you gained was given to me, as well?" he continued, whispering this in his ear, causing the blond to snarl.

"You're not Aerrow..." Finn gritted out, blue eyes narrowing to glare at who he thought was his friend.

"Au contraire, my friend..." the younger of the two said. "I'm the Aerrow that SHOULD have existed...long before you met the other one." At Finn's look of confusion, Aerrow snapped his fingers. A small light at the other end of the dungeon-like room came on, and when Finn looked, he felt his breathing stop short.

Another Aerrow - kinder looking in a way, but looking exactly like the one before him - sat lifeless and blank on the floor...like a doll that needed winding up, or a dog that awaited it's masters command. His green eyes were no longer bright - they were dull and glassy, and held no spark of life to them at all.

"That is the Aerrow you called your friend for so many years." the red-head standing in front of him said bitterly, a hint of extreme distaste in his voice. "The White Queen of Wonderland..." he continued, walking over to his other and grabbing him by his hair, lifting him up. "Well, unlike the rest of history, the Black Kingdom will rule this time! The White Kingdom is weak, WEAK! Wonderland will have a new legacy!"

Finn could only remain silent. This wasn't the Aerrow he knew...but the others would think that this was Aerrow...and if they managed to get to the terra, they would try to destroy it...him, Aerrow, and most likely everybody on it who was actually good at heart along with it...

He had to escape. He had to awaken the real Aerrow.

* * *

Love those plot twists. Of course, this now means I've DOUBLED the amount of players on the Wonderland stage. Well, I'll leave you to guess what will happen now...will they all die, or will they escape? Will Finn be able to awaken the "Light" Aerrow? Or will he be doomed to forever stay a lifeless doll? Will "Dark" Aerrow manage to wage his war against all of Atmos? Or will they rise up and be able to thwart him? All will be told in later chapters!


End file.
